Colin Peters sat back in his chair on the bank of the Seneca River to get a breather, confidently puffing on a Backwoods cigar.

"Getting down to the wire, ain't we," he said, smiling.

He and partner, Tom Brooks, a pair of carp fishing professionals from North Carolina, were in the final minutes of the third annual Northeast Regional carp fishing tournament on the Seneca River. Down with an hour to go, the two men survived a challenge from a determined pair of local men -- Eric Ames, of Constantia, and Steve Ware, of Fayetteville -- to grab the coveted total weight prize worth $3,000.

The two men fished on the Strache property off Route 48, catching 182 fish, for a grand total of 2,804 lbs., 6 oz.

Downstream at Lions Park, an exhausted Ames and Ware were temporarily on top at 9 a.m., but the carp bite slacked off for them in the final two hours of the contest. The logged 174 fish, for a total weight of 2,504 lbs. (The contest ended at 11 a.m., not 10 a.m. as previously reported.)

"I've never been so tired," said Ware, surrounded a small crowd of relatives and friends offering support.

The tournament featured 42, two-person teams. The competitors came from across the country, along with foreign contingents from Canada, England, Poland, Bosnia, the Czech Republic and Romania. A total of $10,000 in cash and equipment were handed out at the awards ceremony Saturday afternoon at the Red Mill Inn in Baldwinsville.

The anglers were spread out at assigned locations (called pegs), where they had stay and fish 50 consecutive hours. Many went the entire time with little, or no sleep.

The biggest fish overall was 34 lbs., landed by the team of James and Andrew Deeley, of England, earning them $1,000.